Novak Djokovic aiming to carry on fantastic form for Tour Finals

The ATP World Tour Finals are a cocktail of fantastic tennis with eight of the world’s best players battling it out to be the best.

This year will be no different, especially with Novak Djokovic heading to London having recently won the Paris Masters. He’s drawn against Marin Cilic first in Group A, and is odds-on with Coral at 1/9 to win.

Stan Wawrinka takes on Tomas Berdych in the first match on Monday, meanwhile, following Sunday’s Group B fixtures that saw Kei Nishikori and Roger Federer defeat Andy Murray and Milos Raonic respectively.

“It definitely encourages me the fact that I have played so well [in Paris] and that I have won the past four indoor tournaments in the past two years that I’ve played,” Djokovic said in the run up to the tournament.

“From outdoor hard court that was my most successful and most preferred surface, now I guess it’s an indoor court. I do feel very comfortable playing, returning, serving in these conditions.”

Seeded first for the tournament and odds-on at 8/11 to win it outright, Djokovic continued: “Two successive titles in London in the past two years give me reason to believe that I can do well.

“I have a week off to recharge my batteries, recover a little bit, spend some time with family, and get on the court.

“I’m excited to be there, because I think it’s one of the most spectacular tennis venues that we have. People in London love tennis and have appreciation for this sport. So I look forward to that.”

As Djokovic stated, he has won the last two tournaments here, and he will be bidding for his fourth ATP World Tour Finals title. However, his first opponent, Cilic (11/2 for victory), happens to be the US Open champion, so will be no pushover.

Their head-to-head record suggests, though, the Serbian will beat the Croatian, as he has won all 10 of their meetings. Cilic came close in his last three matches with Djokovic, so back the latter to beat him 2-1 at 10/3.

Wawrinka, meanwhile, is 11/10 to beat Berdych (odds-on at 8/11), which is a decent bet to take given that he has a 9-5 career record over the Czech.

Swiss number two and Australian Open champion Wawrinka has won all of his last four meetings with Berdych, but lost a set in each, so take enticing odds of 3/1 for him to take a 2-1 victory.